CHAPTER 826 — Unwelcomed.
CHAPTER 826 — Unwelcomed.
Arriving at the Li residence, Li Jing had least expected her foster father and his family to have been back from the hospital. The moment Ye Cheng informed her of the plate number, everything in her brain ceased functioning properly. She should have called the hospital and found out if they were still there, if not anyone but Ding Jiaying and Li Xiu. Her big mistake was that she did not anticipate any of this.
Stepping into the family house, her ears caught a whiff of the annoying voices of the duo, pestering her foster father for answers while also warning him to steer clear of her. She scoffed. They were really asking for it, weren’t they? And even now, after she found out the truth—well, almost the truth—she couldn’t stay away. No matter how he downplayed her, Li Jing was sure he knew something. Something that could probably implicate him if it was out in the open. She barely had time to figure out how to approach the subject when Ding Jiaying’s sharp eyes landed on her. A bitter scoffed was heard, but still, Li Jing’s eyes remained glued to her foster father; she had no idea what was going on until her name was called.
“What are you doing here, Li Jing?” Ding Jiaying’s voice was filled with so much hate and bitterness as she asked, drawing attention to Li Jing.
“Now this bitch comes again.” Li Xiu threw her gaze away, her hands folded in front of her chest, pushing her breasts out. For whom to see, Li Jing had no idea.
Slowly, she let her mind come down from her reverie and focused on the two hyenas in front of her. As if on cue, both ladies took a protective stance in front of Li Chun. It was both funny and appalling, as she caught sight of the shock registered on her foster father’s face by their audacity. “So you two think you have a right to prevent me from speaking to my father?”
“He is not your father,” Li Xiu spat out bitterly, her eyes gleaming with pure hate. Li Jing, on the other hand, lifted her brow quizzically at the stupid excuse of a daughter.
Yes, she was right about Li Jing not being his daughter. But that did not stop their greed when she paid for his bills using his name as his daughter. “I may not be, but I do not see anything useful that you, his daughter, Li Xiu, have ever done for him. Oh,” her eyes sparkled as if she recalled something important, “other than to ruin his company name and tear it down,” Li Jing added. Her smile was precious but, more so, precarious. She wasn’t the same weak girl Li Xiu grew up with. The same one who let her get away with everything she did and never let her emotions show. “By the way, where is your fiance again? I believe you should be in your own home with your husband, rather than failing your father time and time again.”
By now, Li Xiu’s lips hung agape, and her eyes widened as shock registered in them. Li Jing shrugged. She wasn’t done, though. They asked for it. And since she was feeling so many emotions with memories thrown back in her face thanks to her useless foster sister, she knew it was time she made her feel just as worthless as she felt back then with her taunts. “Sure, he may not be my father or I, his daughter, but even I have brought glory to his name, unlike you.” She let her eyes dash off to Ding Jiaying, sparing her a glance before averting her gaze to Li Xiu.
“All you did was steal my trash of a boyfriend and then steal credit for all the work I did in the company or undermine it. In the long run, you ruined Li Corporation. I can’t blame you though,” Li Jing said, shaking her head. Gently, she massaged her temples, ignoring the clenched fists of Li Xiu or the panting of Ding Jiaying. And when she made her last statement, she ensured her eyes and Ding Jiaying’s were locked. “You had lousy training and an example for a mother. I couldn’t expect anything good, coming from the only child of this…”
The words had barely left her tongue when Li Chun thundered at her. He may have sat down there not speaking, but he sure as hell was not happy with Li Jing. She used to be better than this. And better for him was the same meek girl, quiet, barely able to hurt a fly or speak when beaten or maltreated. However, the Li Jing standing before him had grown. Her growth was so good in several ways. She no longer wanted to let people bully her. She may still be innocent and naive, but he saw something else. A fire burned in her eyes as she clenched her fists, her gaze never leaving his while his heart raced widely in his chest. He shouldn’t have stopped her. Shoudl he?
I mean, he knew his wife and daughter probably deserved it. No, they probably did not deserve this. They deserved this. And he was not to be spared when it came to the list of culprits. He watched as she was maltreated all her life and said nothing or made an attempt to stop it. He was the most guilty out of the three. The way Li Jing’s chest tightened, her knuckles turning white with her clenched fists, and the dark glint shining in those eyes of hers, he could only gulp. He made a mistake. A huge mistake
And after over two decades, only now he realised how terrible his choice was.
Li Jing’s lips curled upward, a sinister smile playing on her lovely face. “Oh…” her voice trailed, her attention piqued as she placed a leg in front of the other, taking two more steps in his direction when the mother-daughter duo grew some courage to step up. She paused. “I didn’t know you still had it in you, Li Chun.” She had used his name deliberately to get on his nerves, and it did. His grip on his wheelchair tightened. “I mean, for several years, I was bullied under your roof and nose, even in your presence, never once did you reprimand them nor ask them to treat me better.”
Li Jing pointed at the wife and children. “I call them out once for their wrong and you growl at me.” she scoffed an unbelievable laughter, her head thrown backwards a little. “I thought you’ve been cuckold or worse, no longer a man in your home.”
Tears glistened in her eyes. Now wasn’t the time to show any form of weakness, Li Jing consoled herself internally and brought her head back, lifting her chin high. Li Chun felt insulted but it was true. Every word pouring out of her mouth, the broken and pained child, was true. He couldn’t speak further. He’d annoyed her before when he took their side over and over.
And even now when years have proven who was the most useful child. He still picked his blood.
“Funny.”
“It’s not,” Li Xiu refuted.
Li Jing arched a brow. The lousy brat had the guts to speak?
“That should tell you what family really means. You’d never know being the abandoned child that you were, one nobody wanted and tossed in an orphanage.”
Her first words were a low blow even for her. Still, Li Jing did not scowl at her. She was no animal. Acting like one by fighting would make her look weak, unable to control her emotions. Besides, now she was Mrs. Ye. She represented the Ye family. Secondly, she had a goal. Before then, she did not wish to be banned from her home till she found her mother. “Abandoned?” Rather than let ehr rage rest on her sister, she let it fall on Li Chun. He swallowed before averting his eyes. Too sorry to look her in the eye. Not that it mattered. “I’d rather not be a part of this deranged family than to be tied down by it,” she added. “Secondly, I think it has been proven that I wasn’t abandoned. My family and I were engaged in an accident. Father died on the spot and my mother and I went missing.”
The second she dropped this last bit of information, her eyes narrowed further on Li Chun, watching his every expression to see if she missed anything. “I wasn’t abandoned,” she added again. This time, she darted her gaze to Li Xiu.
“And it turns out I had a better family searching for me for decades. So…” her smile grew. “If any of you think you can try bullying me, I may just have to learn to lean on my maternal family.”
The sparkle in her eyes when she said that made Ding Jiaying and Li Xiu gulp, and exchanged glances while their lips quivered.